Drawing on material in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, this catalogue records two periods of work that uncovered the mosaics of Hagia Sophia, hidden by whitewash and plaster for 400 years. The photographs and drawings record the procedures used in the restoration and the results of these projects carried out in 1848–49 by the architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati and later in 1931–49 by the Byzantine Institute.

In 1847–48 St. Sophia underwent a thorough restoration by the Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati. In the course of this work the Byzantine mosaics, which had previously been obscured with plaster and whitewash, were temporarily revealed. Having made a record of them, Fossati was compelled to cover again all the mosaics representing Christian subjects.

In this volume the Fossati papers relating to the mosaics of St. Sophia are for the first time made the object of a comprehensive publication and discussion. This material is supplemented from other sources, namely the hitherto unpublished drawings of Cornelius Loos 91710) and excerpts from the accounts of travelers who visited Istanbul after the Turkish conquest.

The theme—the Incarnation—the iconography, and the style of the mosaic are fully discussed. Also included is an examination of the complex structural history of the building, which successive restorations transformed into a domed church. The remains of the wall paintings, dating principally from the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, are also described and illustrated. Finally, there is an appendix on a legend, at least as old as the ninth century, concerning a wonder-working mosaic of the Virgin and Child in Cyprus which has sometimes been associated with the Panagia Kanakariá.

“Three Erotes Fishing” is one of a group of Roman mosaics excavated by the Antioch Expedition at Daphne-Harbie. As members of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity, Robert and Mildred Bliss acquired several finds from the fieldwork in the late 1930s. As a floor mosaic, "Three Erotes Fishing" requires conservation work more often than its wall-born brethren. Diane Fullick’s conservation process involved the use of a steam cleaner and sponges to remove the old protective coating, the mechanical removal of tenacious residue from between tesserae using dental picks and scalpel and, finally, the application by brush of a new protective coating.

The “Three Erotes Fishing” floor mosaic and other highlights from the Dumbarton Oaks Collections can be explored on our website through the online catalog.

The text explores the iconographic and stylistic sources of the Greek mosaicists, as well as the departures from Byzantine norms, and the relationship of the decoration to contemporary work in the royal foundations. Also included is a chapter on the architecture of the church by Slobodan Çurciç.